Thunder trail in race for playoff spot

Sunday

TRENTON — Hurricane Irene began her assault on Waterfront Park toward the end of Trenton’s 7-4 loss to New Britain on Saturday.

In anticipation of the building deluge, the Thunder cancelled the second game of the scheduled doubleheader, which had been created by moving Sunday’s game up a day.

Though the game will likely be ma de up on the road this week, the result is already known. The Thunder’s season will likely end following their Sept. 5 game.

Don’t blame the high winds and rain of the powerful hurricane. Look no further than Trenton’s 8-20 record in the previous 28 games. With nine games remaining, the Thunder trail the Rock Cats and Reading Phillies by 2½ and 3 games in the Eastern Conference.

Only one of those three teams will earn the final wild-card spot.

Despite a poor August, the Thunder entered last week in control of their playoff lives, with their final 15 games against New Britain and the first-place New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the two feline-based teams they were chasing.

They went 1-5.

“Sometimes you hit that bad streak at an inopportune time,” manager Tony Franklin said earlier in the week. “We’re in that right now. We have to come out of that pretty quickly. We knew going into our last 15 games, our fate was in our own hands, and we’re not doing very well.”

Defense hurts

The team’s infield defense has been a major culprit in the team’s struggles, led by Jose Pirela’s 36 errors, most of which came at shortstop. Second baseman Corban Joseph hasn’t been much better, with 22.

First baseman Rob Lyerly and third baseman Brad Suttle deserve special mention with 18 errors apiece, coming in 59 and 86 games, respectively.

“I’ve always made it known how important defense is to wins and losses,” Franklin said. “When you give clubs extra outs, there’s a pretty good chance they’re going to take advantage.”

Extras

The Thunder play four more home games this season, beginning tonight against New Hampshire. All games begin at 7:05 p.m. The Fisher Cats are managed by former Philadelphia Phillies catcher Sal Fasano. ... RHP Jeff Marquez cleared waivers this week and started Saturday afternoon’s game. He’ll remain with the team for the rest of the season.

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